The Dean Obeidallah Show: Jon Stewart made America better

Win two tickets to Dean Obeidallah’s Big Brown Comedy Show (monthly in New York City). Transportation not included. Must be 18 or older. Bid here.

SiriusXM Insight’s John Fugelsang, host of Tell Me Everything, joined my show Saturday to discuss the influence that Jon Stewart has had in his 16 years hosting The Daily Show. We both believe that Stewart truly made us laugh while making us smarter. Be honest: How many times have you learned more about issues thanks to Stewart? I know I have. But oddly, when I interviewed Jon Stewart a few years ago, he told me he didn’t believe he was truly having an impact on key issues he cared about. (I wrote about my interview of Stewart for The Daily Beast this week.) Jon Stewart did more than make us laugh, he made a difference as we discussed Saturday:

No Muslims allowed in my store! In a move that harkened back to Jim Crow laws that banned blacks, a Florida gun storeowner has put up a sign that bans Muslims from his shop. Hassan Shibly, the head of Florida’s Council on American Relations, was on my show Saturday morning to discuss this case. He had reached out in a friendly way to the gun shop owner to resolve the issue. Plus, a US military vet who is Muslim went to visit the store. What happened next might surprise you. You can hear it here:

Muslims in a movie as the good guy?! Actors Ben Youcef and Harry Lennix, two of the stars of the new political thriller The Algerian, joined me to discuss their new film, opening in select cities over the next few weeks. Many may recognize Lennix from his roles in various movies and TV shows from The Matrix Reloaded to his current TV series, ABC’s The Blacklist, where he plays FBI special agent Harold Cooper. Youcef explained the message of the film as being found in a famous verse in the Koran. Check it out here:

Black lives matter more than lions’ lives: MSNBC’s Seema Iyer, Esq. talked the indictment of the University of Cincinnati police officer for killing by a police officer by yet another unarmed black man. It seems that weekly we see another heartbreaking case like this.

ISIS on the ropes? Finally, NBC’s Middle East expert Laith Alkhouri joined the show to explain why Turkey has suddenly begun to get involved in fighting ISIS. Turkey has the second biggest military in NATO. Could this be the game changer in the fight against ISIS?

My show airs live every Saturday at 10am to noon ET on SiriusXM Insight (Ch 121) and repeats several times over the weekend. It is also available On Demand. Hope you check it out and, better yet, give us a call during the show to “Ask a Muslim” a question, discuss issues of the week or even be contestant on our weekly segment “Name That Religion.” And as always, I want to be your Muslim friend – so if you don’t have one follow me on Twitter at @deanofcomedy and I’ll follow you back or ask me questions at facebook.com/deanofradio.